wash my feet then - holy thursday

Pascha means to pass over, to cross over.  We remember in these three days of the holy triduum the crossing over of Jesus. By his suffering, by his death and by his resurrection Jesus is crossing over from this world to the Father.  But even before Jesus, Israel had its own pascha, they have their own crossing over from the land of Egypt to the promised land, from slavery to freedom.  They too have to make a crossing.  

But this is also our pascha, this is also our crossing over from slavery to freedom, from this world to the Father, from our old life to a new life. To help us cross I am proposing three invitations, one for each day of the triduum. The first invitation is for feet washing.  The second the invitation on Good Friday is to stand beneath the cross.  And the third on the Vigil of Easter is to become that young man whom the women saw in the tomb sitting on the right side clothed in white. 

On this first day of the Holy Triduum the first invitation is for feet washing.

In the past we have been told that the washing of each other’s feet is an invitation to humbly serve each other.  That is true.  However, one of the Father’s of the Church, his name is Origen, who lived in the 2nd century taught us another meaning of feet washing done by Jesus.  First Origen gets us back to the more basic understanding of washing, why do we wash?  We wash because something is dirty.  And in an age where sandals were the basic footwear, the feet, because of its proximity to the dusty streets and dirty floors were also the first to get dirty. Thus, the feet were washed more often. But aside from hygiene and a tradition of hospitality, Jesus gives the washing of the feet a new meaning.  When Peter protested and refused to have his feet washed out of reverence for Jesus, Jesus rebuked him by saying, "Peter, unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me, you have no part in me."  And so Peter said to him, "Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well."  But then Jesus said to him, "Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,for he is clean all over.”  

Here feet washing acquires a spiritual meaning.  We have been washed already, we have been made clean. By what?  By the blood of Christ, by the waters of baptism.  We are already clean.  And yet we are still on earth, standing on earth, walking on earth, exposed to its dust and grime. And so we get dirty once in a while especially our feet. The major cleaning has been done. And yet because we remain here on earth, our nature is weak and we are exposed to so many temptations, and so we fall. Thus we allow Jesus to wash our feet. Unlike Peter, let us not deny Jesus this act of washing our feet.  Allow him to clean you, allow him to take away the grime and the stench, allow him to rub away the dust and the dirt that has clung to your feet.  Allow Jesus to forgive your sins.  Allow Jesus to take away your sins.  

And so we ask:  when was the last time you went to confession?  In confession we allow Jesus to serve us by washing our feet.  

And so we also ask, what are your favorite sins, ang suki, ang ginabalik-balikan naton pirme nga sala.  Can we allow Jesus to rub that dirt away.  Can we allow grace to expunge it?

Remember you are already clean.  Only the feet is dirty. 

But Jesus did not just wash his disciples’ feet so that he can clean them.  No.  He also asked us to wash each other’s feet. He said, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

What does it mean to wash each other’s feet?  Jesus washed Judas’ feet even though he knew he would betray him.  Jesus washed his disciples feet even though he knew that all of them except John would abandon him.  Jesus washed Peter’s feet even though he knew he would deny him three times before the cock crows.  Like Jesus washing each other’s feet means that we learn to embrace the reality of weakness in each other, the reality of sin in each one’s heart.  What for?  So that we can forgive them, so that we can be more patient with them, so that we can love them despite and in spite of.

Today we have come to the point where we need a divorce law not because there are far less perfect marriages today than before.  No, there has never been a time when there are more perfect marriages.  But we need a divorce law today because we have so many irreconcilable differences nowadays, probably because there is less patience nowadays, probably because there is less willingness to understand nowadays, probably we are far less inclined to give allowances for growth, for making up, for making do, and probably there is a lesser capacity for forgiveness nowadays.  There is in us nowadays a reluctance to wash the feet of betrayers like Judas, to wash the feet of liars like Peter, to wash the feet of cowards like the apostles.  Rather than humbly coming to our knees and wash each other’s dirty feet clean, we run away and call it quits, or probably we just shoot them anyway.

At my age, and I am not that old, I have come to witness quite a number of priests leaving the ministry. Priests I idolized when I was young, priests who were my friends in my seminary days, but the most painful of all are priests who were my students once.  It always pains me to see the children fail, the children giving up, the children given up, kay natak-an na ta.  Somebody whispered to me last night, kapila na niya ginguba ang pagsalig ko, wala na ako pagsalig sa iya, father ano ang himuon ko?  I repeated the same advice given to me when I was in a similar situation. And what was the advice, saligi liwat a. 

O Jesus, my feet are dirty.
Come even as a slave to me,
pour water into your bowl,
come and wash my feet.
In asking such a thing I know I am overbold
but I dread what was threatened when you said to me,
“If I do not wash your feet I have no fellowship with you.”
Wash my feet then, because I long for your companionship.